Follow Honeydew's progress toward becoming a working "Guide Dog for the Blind" - training to help give the gifts of companionship and independence to her blind partner.

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Puppy Club Pictures

Attached are some pictures from our Guide Dogs for the Blind puppy club -- "Pups With Vision" (name of the club).

Photo 1: We had a fund-raiser garage sale today - you can see dogs scattered throughout the area (not for sale though!). The sale went around the whole house - and included a bake sale and a plant sale. All of the money is used for dog supplies and socials (e.g. Max Train tickets when the group does outings).

Photo 2) This big boy is "Fortune", he is the puppy I mentioned before that is HUGE!! He is only 9 weeks old - same age as Honeydew. Isn't he adorable? He is so big his owner can hardly pick him up. He has so much loose skin on his face that he looks like an old man. He is literally, 2 to 2.5 times larger than Honeydew. Crazy!

Photo 3) This is "Gordie", he is being trained that he can't pick up yummy treats off the ground, even when it is just sitting there. The owner/trainer would basically kick this hotdog around in front of him and correct him each time he would try to get it. Eventually, he would just sit and stare longingly at it. Seems mean to tease him like that - but in the end, when he is with a blind person, he needs to just walk past things and not pick them up (even when it is a yummy hotdog) - because the blind person doesn't know when they pick stuff up, and if they do that they can get into poisonous stuff, etc.

Photo 4) Me and the Dew, watching the folks shopping at the garage sale. Isn't she so cute, sitting there like a good girl (Honeydew, not me)! She did a great job today. She stayed pretty calm -- still likes to bite on fingers to say hello, but we are working on that.